Another Farrier Night

We had another farrier night last night. I was exhausted before we started (and not feeling all that great) but at least two out of the three behaved themselves like old pros (which they are). My farrier was rather tickled with both Jim and Zeke. I sure wish the rest of the herd was like that. Perhaps this winter I’ll have more time and energy to get a few of the problem children to act like old pros.

Jim decided that he wasn’t going to play nice after the farrier visit. He ended up staying out in the pasture alone because he refused to come back in to the drylot. I guess that’s what I get for catching him when he was the only one up by the barn in the afternoon.

We also had the farrier work on Maverick. He’s got a crack I’m worried about. Unfortunately, he didn’t behave himself. I really need to work with him because I have a feeling that crack is going to persist until I can get a shoes on his front feet. The way things stand right now, shoes aren’t an option because Maverick won’t stand still. He amuses himself when standing tied and because he thought he was standing tied during the trim, he used me as his amusement. Maverick likes to put his nose on stuff and then rub it back and forth. He decided that my arm would be that “stuff”. Noses are supposed to be soft and velvety but after about 30 times of going back and forth on my arm, Maverick’s nose didn’t feel so soft and velvety!

After the farrier left, I figured I would move the ponies around so I could let them out on the lawn for the day. I should have held off. I was already too tired to mess with the fences but did it anyway. I was worried the thunderstorm would ruin my plans. Nope, not the thunderstorm, the darn ponies. I went to put them in a different pen while I moved fences around. Skippy managed to push the corral panel out enough for both he and Tommy to escape. It’s the same pen they escaped over the weekend. I should have known better. Luckily they stayed in the half way fenced in area until we went to put them back in the pen. Then Tommy decided he was going to blow through the electric. It wasn’t on and I think he knew it. The electric fence is going on tonight! It’s a good thing Skippy is so much easier to handle. I was able to grab Skippy and Tommy followed us into the barn. Mike and I fixed the pen and I decided the ponies would have to stay in the “timeout pen” all day today until I could fix the fence and get the electric fencer hooked up.

By the time I finished with chores, it was dark and I was beyond exhausted. I simply don’t have the energy or the stamina to get everything done like I used to. I’m hoping I’ll be back to my normal self in a short period of time so that I can tackle some of the bigger projects still on my list. But until then…

We’ll just see how tonight goes.